A View From The Bridge

Rugby Theatre performed ‘A View from the Bridge’.  A story following the family of Eddie Carbone and based on a true story set in 1950s New York.

The cast consisted of small and large roles.  Smaller roles were safely in the hands of Max Goode, Daniel Jacks and Nick Hammond (Longshoremen), Sophie Frearson and Catalina Carpon (Catherine’s friends), Jim Finch (Mr Lipari & Longshoreman), Jane Whitehead (Mrs Lipari), Jonny Teasdale (Mike and 2nd Immigration), Steve Crump (1st Immigration Officer & Longshoreman) and Nick Marsh (Eddie’s Friend).

All these roles were played well with excellent accents and characterisation.

One of the larger roles was played by Mark Tolchard (Local Lawyer).  This part was also the narrator and although Mark can normally be found off stage in one capacity or another he looked like he had never been away from the stage with excellent stage presence and a powerful authoritative performance.  A perfect casting for the role.

Christopher Allen-Mason (Rodolpho – Beatrice’s Cousin) and Gareth Cooper (Marco – Beatrice’s Cousin) had excellent chemistry with each other as brothers.  They showed a range of emotions as they told their stories with excellent characterisation and spot-on accents.  Christopher showed the fun, almost care-free brother well and had a lovely relationship with Daisy. Gareth, as the older brother, balanced the loving nature when talking of the family he left behind and channelling the right amount of anger and protection as and when needed in order to protect his family.

Daisy Jones (Catherine – Beatrice’s niece). This part needed to start as an innocent young girl and grow into a young adult which Daisy handled with ease and perfection.  Daisy’s performance went from strength to strength and was enjoyable to watch. Again, with all cast showed an excellent accent.

Nelle Cross (Beatrice – Eddie’s wife), another excellent performance from Nelle who continues to show how diverse an actress she is. Beatrice was superbly played by Nelle; it was a performance that delivered emotion, depth and captured the painful collapse of her marriage to the man she loved. A heart-rending and poignant performance.

Lastly, Robert Sloan (Eddie Carbone), this was a remarkable piece of acting making you feel anger and compassion for the character throughout the performance showing all the frustrations, anger, jealously and turmoil of the character. A flawless performance.

All cast members in this evening’s production showed heart and soul and it was very moving. In addition, the accents, costumes, set, sound and lighting were exactly right.

Well done to the creative team and cast, this was the opening night and some opening night performances can be affected by those dreaded first night nerves and there was one or two dropped or tripped over lines, but this was soon forgotten about as you were kept on your toes, wanting to know what was going to happen next.

An excellent emotional evening out and very enjoyable.

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